2023
260x260x260
Steel, glass, diffraction grating film, water, rain, sun rays.
Public artwork made for the local youth house Pavillion and the exhibition space Platform.
Easterhouse, Glasgow.
The Brolly exhibited at Platform
The public sculpture The Brolly, was initiated by Sculpture Placement Group in collaboration with Platform and Blairtummock Housing Association. It was made with two purposes in mind: firstly, as a running fountain to be exhibited at Platform in Easterhouse, and secondly as a rain fountain for its permanent home at Pavillion a local youth house in Easterhouse. Here The Brolly will not be installed in a basin, but will be activated by the delightful Scottish weather.
Images from the Platform install in Easterhouse. Photo credit Matthew Barnes.
The Brolly in function
The sculpture is a galvanized steel structure with five umbrella shaped glass tiers. Like a roof, the fountain collects rainwater on its top tier where it then trickles down onto the lower tiers and imitates a fountain. The water is directed to rain garden flowerbeds where it will nourish plants and flora that thrive in saturated soil. When the rain stops so does the fountain, however when the sun comes out, the suns light splits through the diffraction film and scatters as fractions of rainbows around The Brolly.
The Brolly at Pavillion
The Brolly is currently in the process of being installed at its permanent home and is scheduled to be finished mid 2024. The water runs of the top tier into the middle wherefrom it trickles down the lowering tiers. At the bottom the water runs into a shallow square in the terazzo foundation, that via a step system leads the water into a rain garden. The rain garden will host flora and plants that thrives in saturated soil and the excess water will help nourish a green spot next to The Brolly.
3D drawings are from the final plans.